Legacy
by CenterCitizen
Summary: How will Light and the taskforce members cope when L’s heirs take a decidedly more direct approach in catching Kira? Alternate series of events from episode 27 onwards. A couple swear words.
1. PROLOGUE

**Description:** How will Light and the taskforce members cope when L's heirs take a decidedly more direct approach in catching Kira? Alternate series of events from episode 27 onwards. No pairings, at least none that will be the focus of this story. A couple swear words. Also, I don't own Death Note.

* * *

**Leg'a****-cy,** _n._ ; 1. A bequest; a particular thing given by last will or testament; hence, anything obtained from a predecessor.

PROLOGUE

"Ryuzaki…" The Chief's face was a mask of determination and sorrow as he spoke, as if to the simple marble cross in front of him.

Light tried not to laugh.

It had been only three days since the 'World's Greatest Detective' had died. Or... since he had been defeated by Kira. Once again, Light forced him self not to smile. '_No, no, not here, not right now,'_ he told himself.

The setting sun cast long shadows throughout the cemetery, giving the trees and headstones a peaceful orange glow. Well, almost peaceful. Some might have considered it eerie. From behind him the shinigami Ryuk grinned but said nothing. His father had been speaking, but Light had not really been paying attention.

"Don't worry, Dad," he said, putting on a perfect front of anger and sorrow. "This… is unforgivable. Watari… L… I will catch Kira. I will avenge their murders. I swear."

Ryuk chuckled. Out of the corner of his eye Light could see Matsuda looking at him with tear filled eyes full of admiration and sadness.

'_Don't laugh…' _he thought.

For some time the five remaining taskforce members stood in silence. The sun sunk lower into the sky and the cemetery was bathed in pinkish red. With some unspoken knowledge they all began to filter out of the graveyard; all except for Light, who remained facing the simple cross with clenched fists.

"Light-kun…" Matsuda called after him, stopping. At a word from the chief, however, he turned hesitantly back to follow the others.

And Light was left alone.

Well, alone save for Ryuk.

"Ah," The shinigami said, his voice gravelly and cracked. "It's kinda too bad, huh? L sure made this interesting… but I guess he lost in the end."

At this Light could barely contain himself. He laughed. A cold, humourless laugh. He opened himself up to the sky, throwing his hands out in front of himself.

Laughing.

Until something caught his eye. A figure, standing at the gates of the cemetery where the four taskforce members had left from.

Light's face immediately fell back into it's usual calm and stony expression, and he turned quickly to face the figure.

No, three figures. They stood in a line, facing him. All three were dressed in black, and for a moment Light thought the shorter one was wearing a white hat.

They were staring at him. One of the taller two – most likely a boy, but Light couldn't be certain – was clenching his fists and glaring at Light with an intensity that would have scared him had he been any normal person.

"Yes?" Light called calmly, although he could feel his heart pounding inside of his ribcage.

The boy's eyes grew wider, and by the way his long blonde hair was fluttering slightly, Light knew that he was shaking with rage.

The other one, a boy wearing sunglasses (or something of the sort) brought his hand to rest on the blonde's shoulder. He twitched slightly at the touch, but appeared to relax. His face twisted into an almost grotesque sneer and he lowered his head to whisper something to the smaller one, who nodded. With one final glance the three boys turned and walked out through the wrought iron gates, leaving Light standing alone in the cemetery, his previous excitement forgotten.

X X X

**Author's note**: Hello hello hello, and welcome to my (hopefully) first chaptered fanfiction! This little story, Legacy, is simply based off of my first impressions about Mello and Near. When I heard about L's heirs my first impressions were a little… off, so to speak. I have a couple chapters written so far, but some reviews for chapter one would be nice before I post the second. So read Ch. 1 and if you like it, REVIEW!!

Also, for future reference, "Normal Type" is speaking Japanese, '_Italic type' _is thinking, and "_**Bold Italic**_" is speaking English, unless otherwise specified.

NOW READ CHAPTER ONE, DAMMIT!


	2. Invasion

**AN: **Remember, "Normal Type" is speaking Japanese, "_**Bold Italic**_" is speaking English, and _'italic'_ is thinking. Please enjoy!

* * *

CH. 1 **Invasion**

_Click. Whhhhhhiiiir…_

Matsuda opened his eyes and blinked. He lay for several seconds in the soft bed, rubbing his eyes wearily. He pondered for moment what had in fact awoken him, but came up empty-handed. He rolled over. Rain drummed the tinted plate-glass window relentlessly. It had only let up the day before, for Ryuzaki's… funeral. It pained Matsuda to even think about the death of the detective. Somehow it made him feel like if Ryuzaki – if _L – _had really and truly failed – died, been murdered… _lost_ – then there was absolutely no way to stop Kira, and absolutely no point whatsoever to this relentless game.

Thinking of the raven-haired detective made Matsuda's eyes brim with tears. He could almost imagine that his death had been nothing but a dream… or a nightmare. That even now the quiet whir of the computers was due to the insomniac's relentless search for justice, and tomorrow when Matsuda padded softly into the work area, yawning, Ryuzaki would be there, already on the case.

Wait.

The computers?

Matsuda frowned. If he focused on it he could just barely hear the metallic whir of the state of the art computers that had sat, for the past few days, unused by anyone, over the soft drum of rain.

Matsuda sat up. He strained his ears over the rain, listening intently. He could hear an almost constant tapping… someone typing on the computers. It was probably Light, he thought, and felt his heart soften slightly. '_He must not be able to sleep, so he's working…' _Matsuda smiled. Maybe it would be nice to pay him a visit? He thought of Light, staring at the computer through grief-filled eyes. How brave he was, to dedicate himself so fully to the capture of Kira even after what had happened to L! Someone like that deserved something nice… maybe a cup of coffee. Matsuda pictured the grateful expression on the teenager's face as he handed him a cup of steaming hot coffee. _'Thank you Matsuda… You know, you really do work hard, and even if no one else sees it, I do.'_

Well, maybe thatwas a bit of an exaggeration… but no matter.

With a yawn Matsuda lifted himself off of the mattress and stretched, reaching his arms high up above his head. He tiptoed out the door and down the hall. It wasn't actually that far to the main work area from Matsuda's room, which was probably why he'd been able to hear the computers. As he walked down the hallway the tapping grew louder. Matsuda wondered how anyone could type that fast… it almost seemed to be one constant noise, not hundreds of smaller ones. The bluey-white glow from the screens was also getting brighter, and Matsuda had to blink several times when he peered around the corner.

"Light-kun?" he called, and the tapping stopped abruptly. Matsuda could see the screen now… well, screen_s_ actually. There was three, and as the person sitting in front of them shifted, Matsuda got a glimpse of what was on them.

The one in the center was black, white writing typing itself steadily across it at a pace that made Matsuda dizzy to look at. This one was the only computer that Matsuda recognized. He frowned. The other two were laptops, one showed a screen full of what looked like files, and the other what appeared to be some kind of first-person shooter game, paused.

"…Light?" He said again, more hesitantly. The person sitting in front of the computers turned slightly, and Matsuda started. At first he thought it was an alien, and yelped. The alien looked slightly startled, but otherwise watched him calmly, taking a drag off of its cigarette.

"ALIENS!" Matsuda shouted. "HELP!"

The alien turned back to its computers as Matsuda ran away down the hall, smirking.

xxx

Light's eyes snapped open. Someone had just screamed…

There it was again, louder. Hurried footsteps, a furious pounding on the door.

"_Light-kun! Something strange is in here!_"

Light sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Matsuda?" he called, his voice still filled with sleep.

"Yes! Please open the door Light-kun! I think an alien broke in!"

Light frowned. Was the poor idiot having nightmares again? Wearily he heaved himself out of bed and walked over to unlock the door. Matsuda's frantic face was the first thing that met his eyes.

"Do you know what time it is, Matsuda?" he asked angrily.

"Light! Quick, hurry! Something's in here on the computers!"

Light sighed, massaging his temples. When he looked up the faces of the two other taskforce members staying in the building greeted him as well.

"What going on?" Mogi asked evenly, and Light shook his head.

"I have no idea. Matsuda said something about aliens."

"It's true! Really!!" His voice was nothing more than a frightened whisper, and he kept glancing over his shoulder and down the hall nervously, as if expecting something to come after them.

The chief frowned, lowering his voice as well. "What are you talking about, Matsuda? Why in God's name would there be an alien in this building at this time of night?"

Matsuda flushed. "W-well… It looked like an alien… with huge shiny eyes, sitting in front of the computers!"

Light and Soichiro exchanged glances, immediately tense. They all turned to face the end of the hallway, and, listening intently, Light could definitely hear the same sound that Matsuda had: a furious, constant tapping. Mogi looked at Light, who nodded. After being woken by Matsuda's racket, Mogi had grabbed the handgun lying on the end table near his bed, and now he took it out, cocking the hammer and taking the safety off. Soichiro looked nervously at his son, who didn't seem to notice.

With Mogi leading the way, all four men padded silently down the hall. Light could feel his pulse quickening, but he kept his head calm and collected. Why would someone sneak into their building? And, more importantly, _how?_ Unless it was Aizawa, of course, but that wouldn't fit at all. The detective had jumped at the chance to spend even a few days with his family, and besides, he was the type of person to call before just dropping in…

They reached the corner of the hallway, and with a nod from Light, Mogi jumped out, the ready gun pointed at whoever was seated in front of the computers.

"Freeze!" he yelled. "Hands where I can see them!"

Soichiro had flicked on the light switch at the same time Mogi had jumped out, and the person cringed visibly.

Making a little 'tsk tsk' noise, he raised his hands and swiveled around in his chair to face Mogi. Now Light could understand why Matsuda had mistaken him for an alien: he wore some kind of glasses, driving goggles perhaps, that covered his entire eye up to the eyebrow, and reflected the light like a fly's.

Light, Soichiro and Matsuda stepped out warily, until all four men were surrounding the one in front of the three computers.

Behind the intruder, the black screen continued to type onto itself.

"Who are you?" demanded Soichiro. "How did you get in?"

"_**Jesus Christ, what's all the fucking noise about?**__"_

The four taskforce members whipped around to face the boy who had just walked in, and Light felt an electric jolt in the bottom of his stomach. He was dressed completely in black, save for the red glass cross that hung around his neck. His hair was long; shoulder length, and straw coloured, and when he saw Light he flashed the same eerie grin he had in the cemetery.

"_**Good evening…**__" _he said in English, then corrected himself. "Good evening? Better? Ah, well…_**I suppose we didn't really think this through, eh Matty?**__"_ he turned to the boy with the goggles, who shrugged. _"__**Are you almost done?**__" _the blonde asked, and the other boy shrugged once more.

"_**Excuse me, but what is the meaning of this?**__" _Light asked, forcing his voice to remain even.

"_**Well seeing as we own this joint and all…**__ahem__**,**_seeing as we own this joint and all, we figured we better take a look around before we moved in, hm?" the blonde said loftily.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, well, we own this building. It belongs to us, you know."

"I'm afraid I don't know, actually," Light replied through gritted teeth. The goggled boy had turned back to the computers several minutes earlier to resume his incessant typing, and now the letters and numbers flashed across the screen quicker than ever.

"Oh." The blonde brought his hand up to his face and began to examine his nails. "Well, that's too bad, I guess. But whatever. _**Are you done yet?**_"

The boy in front of the computers waved his hand dismissively.

"What are you doing?" This time it was Soichiro who spoke, directing his words at the boy in front of the computers. "I hope you know that you are trespassing on private property, and I'm positive whatever you're doing right now is not legal!"

The goggled boy ignored him completely, and the blonde just laughed.

"Yeah yeah, that's nice and all… _**Jesus, would you hurry the fuck up?**_"

Mogi, who was still poised with the handgun pointed at the blonde boy, clenched his jaw. "You do know that we _will_ be calling the police, and you will both be arrested?"

The blonde's smirked instantly changed into an cold frown. "Well, good for you, but I think Yagami-san will want to speak with us when we come back tomorrow, so…" He glanced toward the other boy, who had stopped typing and was gathering up all of the computer equipment he had brought, "…better not, then."

Light watched with masked fury as the boy in front of the computer stretched his arms and stood up, keeping a firm grip on the backpack that he had put all of his computers in. The blonde didn't even bother looking at him for confirmation before he turned on his heel and walked briskly out the door, the goggled boy struggling to keep up at his heels.

"Stop!" Mogi called, hesitating to run after the two intruders and instead looking at Light for the okay. Light clenched his fists, but did not acknowledge the other detective.

"Light, their getting away…" Soichiro whispered, but Light simply stood, still as stone.

Who were they? How had they broken in? These questions did not matter.

At that moment in time, the only thought that surfaced in Light Yagami's brain, was '_How dare they.'_

X X X

**AN: **Heh heh, I love Matsuda. Anyhoo… there you have it. Next chapter will be up soon. Personally I like the next chapter better than this one, so please stick around! (at least for a little while!) Now, I command you to REVIEW!! D:

Oh, and I almost forgot: a big thanks to _my_ Mello, forevertwilightvampire, for reading this over and giving me some helpful suggestions.


	3. Surprise

CH. 2 Surprise

'_How dare they.'_

Light Yagami sat in front of the softly humming state-of-the-art computer, fists clenched and resting on top of the desk.

Gone. Just as he had expected. All of the data they had was gone. Well, not gone, really. But copied… stolen. Light knew this because every single password had been changed, and he had no idea to what. It would take days for him to hack back into the taskforce's database, and when he got back in he had absolutely no idea what to expect. Maybe they really had deleted everything. Light had been planning on doing that himself, anyways; in the wrong hands all of the information that L had acquired could potentially destroy everything he had worked for up until now.

And he had a sneaking suspicion that whoever those boys were, theirs were most definitely the wrong hands.

Light forced himself not to scream in frustration. Whoever they were, they now knew everything there was to know about the investigation. Massaging his temples, Light cursed himself for not acting properly. Why the hell had he frozen like that? Of course he should have gone after them. Or, at the very least, ordered Mogi to. As far as Light had been able to tell, they had not had any weapons on them, so detaining them would have been easy.

From behind him, Ryuk laughed. "Never a dull moment, eh Light?"

"Shut up," Light murmured under his breath, and Ryuk chuckled once more. He could not rid his brain of the image of that boy, smirking at him. The same way he had in the cemetery… _Who were they?_ Every time he thought about it; the cemetery, last night… he grew angrier. Light had always had a certain amount of pride. Actually, he had quite a lot of pride. And the way that boy had held himself, the way he had spoken to them… infuriated Light. This whole situation was downright insulting. And what had he meant, "we own this building"?

Light sighed angrily. He had a headache, not to mention the fact that it was five thirty in the morning and he had not slept since he had been woken by Matsuda's screams around three. Perhaps that was why his thinking was a mess.

Soft footsteps from behind him shattered his thought half-way. He didn't even bother looking up as Matsuda set a cup of hot coffee on the desk beside his right hand.

"Here you go, Light-kun… I thought you might want some…"

Light said nothing, ignoring the coffee. He heard a tiny sigh escape from Matsuda's lips as the other detective turned and walked slowly back to his room.

"Get some sleep, ok Light-kun?" Matsuda said softly before rounding the corner of the hallway.

Light ignored him.

xxx

Three hours later, Light awoke to the sound of hushed voices. He sat up rather fast, annoyed with the fact that he had fallen asleep in front of the computer.

He turned his gaze to the monitor, which must have turned on its screen saver some time before. It was a white, floating L on a black background, and Light narrowed his eyes. Those boys must have put it there…

Light buried his face in his hands, massaging his eyes with his thumbs. His brain felt foggy… a feeling which he was not used to and he did not at all appreciate.

As Light sat, letting his mind clear and hoping that his headache would go away soon, the hushed voices became clearer.

"…say something about coming back today? And talking with 'Yagami-san.'"

"How do you think he knew…"

Light sighed and stood up, yawning groggily. His father's voice made him turn.

"You need some sleep, Light. It's no use going over the same things over and over again. Just rest for now," the man said kindly, walking up to Light and resting a hand on his shoulder. This sentiment only served to annoy Light, however. Nonetheless, he put on a tired, grateful, mask and nodded.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. By the way, have you checked the camera footage from last night?"

The chief looked slightly nervous. After L's death, Light had brought up the idea of having every camera switched to recording. Now he was grateful for it. If those boys turned out to be a problem, he could simply show the footage to Misa…

"Well…" Soichiro replied hesitantly. Light frowned. That was not a good tone. "We did check, actually, but…" Soichiro paused. "Everything's been erased. And something's wrong with the cameras themselves… they're all broken."

Light gritted his teeth. Of course he should have expected this, but… still. His previous anger returned, bubbling in his stomach like acid.

"…Broken," he repeated, and the chief nodded.

"Yes. All of the camera's. They won't record anything."

"Very well. Set them to watch then, and order new ones as soon as you possibly can. If those people come back, come get me right away. And start trying to get back into the taskforce database."

At this, Soichiro looked puzzled. "But why, Light?" he asked.

"Because the passwords have been changed…" He was getting even more annoyed now, and the headache had not gone away. "And call back Aizawa," he added, for no real reason.

The chief nodded, still slightly bewildered, and walked away to get the other taskforce members moving. Light stood for a moment, fighting the urge to throw a temper tantrum, before walking in the opposite direction down the hall and to his room.

xxx

Aizawa was mad. That was really all there was to it. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel and he was having a hard time keeping his breath even. This was turning into a very bad day.

Some three hours previous, he had got out of bed just in time to take his daughter to kindergarten. He had gotten dressed, shaved, and cut himself by accident when the phone rang.

It was chief Yagami, letting him know that he had to come back to HQ as soon as possible. Apparently he couldn't tell Aizawa why, because he gave no explanation. By the time this conversation ended, Aizawa had blood dripping down the side of his neck in a thick rivulet, and was already in a bad mood. When he went into the kitchen to tell his daughter, Yumi, and his wife, Eriko that he had to go back to work indefinitely, Yumi fainted at the sight of the blood (which he had forgotten about) before he could even get a word out, hitting her head on the table as she fell.

On the way to the hospital they were stuck in traffic for over an hour because of some car crash. Just as they got past it, a silver Volvo rear-ended Aizawa's car and the baby started crying.

The Volvo owner refused to acknowledge the fact that it was his fault, and by the time they got to the hospital Yumi was perfectly fine. Eriko insisted that they get her checked, however, and that took another hour and a half. By the time that Aizawa got out of the hospital and dropped Yumi, Eriko, and the baby off at their house, it was three hours later than Aizawa had originally planned. And then someone cut him off.

So now, he was mad.

He was still in a huff when he entered the building to swipe his ID to get upstairs. And, when someone yelled something at him in English, he thought he might snap.

"Excuse me?" he asked the boy, turning to face him. He had shoulder-length blonde hair and was eating a bar of dark chocolate. He was dressed completely in black except for his coat, which was a deep purple with some sort of feathery trim. It came down to just above his knees. Two other boys stood beside him, one, clad in a simple outfit consisting of jeans, a striped tee-shirt and a fur-trimmed vest, was playing a Nintendo DS (Aizawa knew what it was because Yumi had asked for one for Christmas) and the other, wearing what looked like white pajamas, was sitting on the floor, twirling his hair. They were standing in a corner of the lobby, and Aizawa had not noticed them when he came in.

"Can we go up with you? We don't have the proper codes and whatnot yet," asked the boy airily.

"…No," Aizawa replied. The boy scowled.

"Well, that's not very friendly. Would you rather we break in?"

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. Did they really expect him to let them up, seeing as he had no idea whatsoever who they were? And breaking in? That was nearly impossible in this building, but still… Obviously he couldn't trust them. The boy stood, tapping his foot, an expectant expression on his face. Aizawa noticed that they had several duffel bags with them.

"I'm sorry, but this is a private building. I don't know who you are or why you're here, so I will absolutely not let you up," said Aizawa, annoyance evident in his voice.

The blonde boy huffed and took a vicious bite of his chocolate bar. "Well, call upstairs and tell them we're here. They'll let us up," he said confidently.

"No." Aizawa swiped his ID and walked through the door as it opened for him, not bothering to look back at the face of the blonde boy as he went. He would have to tell Light and the chief about the strange visitors in the lobby as soon as he got upstairs.

xxx

Light, Matsuda, Soichiro, and Mogi watched tensely as Aizawa exchanged some brief words with the boys in the lobby. They had walked in about five minutes before Aizawa had arrived, bringing with them several duffel bags and backpacks. The chief had immediately gone to get Light, and soon all four taskforce members were hunched around a single computer screen. Every now and then one of them would look to Light for some sign of what to do, but the teenager gave no signal that he noticed. He merely gazed intently at the three figures, not saying a word. When Aizawa had come into frame, all four men had exchanged glances, but he had not let them up.

It was a little strange, thought Matsuda, that these three boys had decided to come in the proper way today. Obviously it was no trouble at all for them to break into the HQ, given the previous night's drama. The fact that they had been able to break in at all was in itself a mystery, and thinking about it gave Matsuda a headache. The building that Ryuzaki had chosen had so many security checks, locks and alarms that it was 99.9 secure, according to the late detective himself. So these boys, they were in that top point-one percentile? Matsuda found this thought completely mind-boggling as well. But then again, you could never judge a book by its cover; for all they knew, these three boys could be hardened criminals. A gesture from Light snapped Matsuda out of his reverie. He was motioning for them all to be silent.

One of the building's many phones was held in his hand and he was dialing swiftly. He put it to his ear, and Matsuda could hear it ring.

The boys on the monitor all turned in unison to look at a phone on the wall beside the first security check. Although the cameras currently had no sound, Matsuda knew it too must be ringing. The blonde boy grinned and walked confidently over to the phone. He stood by it, and before picking up the receiver, gave a little wave.

xxx

Light felt his heartbeat quicken in spite of himself as the blonde boy waved, looking directly at the camera, and picked up the receiver. The phone's ringing stopped, and Light heard very faint and even breathing.

"Hello?" The blonde asked, his voice pleasant and light, as if he had no idea who could be on the other line.

"Who am I speaking with?" Light asked abruptly, and the boy chuckled.

"Jeez, you sure get right down to it, don't you? Let us up and I'll tell you."

Light narrowed his eyes. "I'm afraid you're not in any position to be bargaining. Tell me your name and I'll _consider_ not calling the police."

The boy looked into the camera and raised his eyebrows. "Well, like I told you last night, we own this building," he said.

"I'm afraid that doesn't make any sense. This building belongs to the Japanese police. As does any computer data stored on its premises, which you have without a doubt stolen. Do you want to go to prison?"

"_**Juvy.**_"

"Excuse me?"

"Not prison. _**Juvy**_."

Light sighed. "Look, I'm not in the mood to play games. Tell me who you are or I _will_ call the police."

"Fine."

Light paused. The boy had covered the receiver and was consulting with his two comrades. The pale boy, who's hair was a cottony white, nodded. The goggled boy continued playing his game.

"Okay. I won't tell you our names until you let us up, but I will tell you who we are. I think that'll make you want to let us up anyways."

Light did not reply. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, and cursed himself for getting so emotional about this simple thing.

The blonde boy looked into the camera, smirking. "We're L's kids."

XXX

**AN:** Yay chapter two! I feel terrible that I've stopped writing this, so I'm gonna try and make an effort! Wooooot! I like this chapter better than the first one. I lol'd when writing the part about Aizawa. Heh heh.

Nothing left to say except… REVIEW!!1!

Ah, and also thank you once again to forevertwilightvampire, my unofficial beta. Wooooot


	4. Explanation

CH

CH. 3 Explanation

Light stared as the three boys filtered in to the taskforce's main HQ. The goggled boy appeared to be carrying both of the other's bags, and was having a rather difficult time of it. The taskforce members watched in silence, making no move to help him with his luggage. Aizawa had come up shortly before them , and Light had only briefly filled him in on the situation. He now stood in the corner, arms crossed and looking quite sour.

"We will have to check those bags before you bring them in," Light said coldly.

"But we've already brought them in," The blonde said.

"Well we'll have to check them now then." This time it was Matsuda who spoke. He stepped forward determinedly, holding out his hands to the goggled boy, who was huffing heavily. The boy ignored him and broke into a violent coughing fit, dropping the duffel bags and doubling over with his hands on his knees. Matsuda looked rather taken aback. He paused, looking at Light for direction. The blonde rolled his eyes.

"_**That's what you get, Matt. I'm amazed you're not coughing up blood.**_"

The goggled boy simply continued coughing, red in the face, and gave him the middle finger.

Matsuda cleared his throat and gingerly reached for the duffel bags. None of the boys made any move to stop him, and when the detective straightened with the luggage clutched in his hands, he had a triumphant smile on his face. With his head held high Matsuda walked over to the couch and set the bags down. Soichiro and Mogi gathered around the duffel bags, and Matsuda reached up to unzip the first one. There was a sharp intake of breath from all three men as its contents were revealed. The blonde rolled his eyes once more and took another bite of chocolate.

"What's this?" Soichiro asked the boys, pulling out some sort of model robot.

The white haired boy, who had not spoken until then, raised his hand. "That is mine," he said serenely. Soichiro frowned suspiciously and turned back to the bags. Mogi had opened the other three now and was rooting around inside them.

Light, however, was paying no attention to the impromptu baggage check. He was glaring intently at the face of the blonde, who did not seem to be aware of his gaze.

After several minutes of looking through the duffel bags and pulling out various random items (including clothes, toys, toiletries, cigarettes, more toys, candy, and video games) the taskforce members turned back to the three intruders. Matsuda walked forward suspiciously and handed them the bags.

In this time, Light had not taken his eyes off the blonde. Finally he stood.

"Now. You claim you are L's… children, is that right?" Light asked.

The blonde boy flopped down on the couch nearest him and motioned for the two others two follow. Only the goggled boy did; the small white-haired one stayed where he had been sitting on the floor.

"Well, yeah," he said. "We _are_ L's children. I'm Mello, that's Matt," Mello gestured to the boy sitting beside him on the couch, "and the stupid pale one over there is Near," he concluded with a flourish of his gloved hand. Near gave a small nod.

"Now," continued Mello, "obviously those aren't our real names. There's absolutely no point in me hiding that fact. And I promise you that we will never tell you our real names because we're not idiots." He took a bite of chocolate. "And it would be nice if you left our building soon, like maybe the next couple weeks or so."

Light raised an eyebrow. "I can assure you we will not leave. This building belongs to us."

"No," said Mello, clearly starting to get annoyed. "It belongs to _us_, actually. See, we're L's kids. His _sons_. And therefore his sole heirs and beneficiaries. And this building belonged to L, not the NPA, when he was alive. So we get the clubhouse."

"What proof do you have that you are his children?" asked the chief.

"Yeah," added Matsuda, "you don't look anything like him." Light resisted the urge to hit his co-worker.

"The fact that we were able to get into this building should be proof enough." The taskforce members turned in unison to stare at the small white-haired boy, Near. "L knew the way to break into this building. And, we know. This is not a coincidence," he said. He was sitting with one knee up and the other one tucked himself, curling a lock of snowy hair calmly around his finger.

"Yep." This time it was the goggled boy, Matt, who spoke, not bothering to look up from his game. "There are only a few back doors to get in here. Security-wise. Once you know L's basic password thing… uh, code I guess, it's all kinda similar. But I won't tell you how because – "

"Because I'd kill you," Mello finished for him.

"That still doesn't prove anything," the chief said. "The possibility that you are simply very skilled criminals is slim, but not non-existent."

Mello sighed. "Well, fine. But you are all overlooking one very, very important thing. Something I'm sure Yagami-san has noticed by now."

Near nodded. "Yes. A very crucial point."

"And obvious," Matt contributed.

"Yeah yeah," Mello said sarcastically. "Important, crucial, and obvious. Good vocabulary. Have a cookie."

"What are you talking about?" Matsuda asked, puzzled.

"Yagami-san knows," Mello said with a wry grin.

Light had so far been putting on a perfect face of calm. When Mello spoke to him, he did not falter once. "Yes," he said evenly. "There is something about you three that I cannot ignore. But... I would like to hear it from you yourselves."

Mello's smile widened. It was by no means a happy smile, and to Matsuda it looked downright insane.

"Well," he said slowly. He unwrapped the rest of his chocolate bar carefully and crinkled the tinfoil into a ball in his hand. "You see, we know that L is dead. And we knew he was when he was killed."

Matsuda still looked puzzled.

"Therefore, we obviously and without a doubt have some connection to L. And who's not to say we're his sons? I think that is why Yagami-san let us up today."

Light nodded coldly. "It is impossible to overlook the fact that you knew of L's… death.

"Murder," all three boys corrected.

Light resisted the urge to scowl. "Yes, murder," he agreed. Matsuda sighed forlornly.

For several moments, the only sound in the room was that of the steady noise of Mello licking his chocolate bar and the muted beeps coming from Matt's DS. Finally Matsuda broke the silence. "So… what are you, um, doing here?"

"We are here to catch Kira," said Near. Mello and Matt nodded solemnly.

"Yes," the blonde confirmed, "and if you refuse to leave… then we'll just have to move in anyway. We will help you with your investigation if you want, but if not then I'm sure we can manage to stay out of each other's way."

"Why are you so sure that we'll let you use this building? And the 'we're L's kids!' excuse is getting old," Light said sourly.

Mello shrugged. He seemed to be in a different mood then; calmer and more thoughtful, licking the almost-done chocolate bar slowly. "Because without L I doubt this investigation will go anywhere. We're offering to help you, Yagami-san. I think you would do best to accept."

"I'll need to discuss this with the taskforce," Light replied, and Mello nodded understandingly.

"Please," Near said at the reluctant expressions on the men's faces. "Don't worry about us. Rest assured we will not attempt to steal any information or vandalize your property while you are elsewhere."

Soichiro, Mogi, Matsuda and Aizawa still looked suspicious, but Light nodded calmly and led them out of the room. In truth, the teenager was more than reluctant to leave the boys, but the need to talk alone with the other taskforce members outweighed his suspicion.

After the five men had left, Near, Mello and Matt sat in silence. It was only when they were positively sure that they were not being overheard that Matt spoke. "So," he said slowly in English, not looking away from the game in his hands, "what next?"

"We see if they'll let us stay," Mello replied.

"And if they don't?"

"We'll stay anyways."

"So either way… but what then?"

"Matt…" Mello looked at him pityingly. "How many times have we been over this?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

"Obviously…"

"But, what then?" Matt repeated, taking his eyes off of his video game for the first time since he had sat down and turning to Mello. The blonde grinned evilly.

"Then," he said, swallowing the last bit of his chocolate bar, "let the games begin."

XXX

**AN:** Bleh… this chapter is shorter than I would have liked. I've already lost the spark for this. DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!

BUT. I will keep on going because I WILL FINISH THIS GOD DAMNED FIC IF IT KILLS ME! And if it takes all of eternity… D:

Um… ideas are MUCH appreciated. And REVIEWS. Maybe if lots of people say nice things, I will get back that stupid thing that causes me to write. The opposite of writer's block, I dunno… TT.TT

I NEED IDEAS GAIZ! I AM OUT!


End file.
